I pre-ordered my Nook back in October or November 2009, and got it in the first wave in early December 2009. That Nook suffered a cracked page-turn button after less than a year. B&N replaced it with a Nook Simple Touch. The first one they sent me couldn't hold a charge for more than a couple of hours. After a lot of fuss, they sent me a replacement (they tried blaming me as if I was using it incorrectly). I loved my replacement Nook ST, but it's now a paperweight. The screen is frozen and B&N tech support has no idea how to unfreeze it. I understand that my warranty is long expired, so they won't replace it. But I won't purchase another Nook. Ever. I'll stick with my Kindles. I like every generation of Nook more than Kindle, and I'm a longtime, loyal customer of B&N. But I won't continue to flush money down the toilet on devices that break for no good reason. It's a shoddy product, and I'm sad about the many books I purchased but haven't yet read.

That's your decision and, based on the described experience, understandable.

However, it's a jump in logic to this:

It's a shoddy product

Even well designed products have unit or batch defects. You just came up on the short end of the odds. But really it's the same math you get on a roulette wheel. Sure, the odds of 00 coming up are small, but nothing prevents it coming up at any one time, multiple times in a row.

Even with your multiple unit experience and the other experiences posted over time here, I think the various NOOK generations are a far cry from a "shoddy product." The sample size here is just too small and skewed to the bad experiences. Very few people post saying they've had a NOOK for years with no problem.

Good luck with your Kindle, sorry to hear you've soured on what others find to be a great product.

Why do people feel the need to post about how they are going to buy kindles? I don't doubt that there are glitches with electronics (having replaced my tv, modem, cable box, laptop, ipod, cell phone, gps system, nook at one point or another). But my issues don't lead me to come to a message board and post about the replacement brand.

Why not just go ahead, replace your device and keep it moving without posting about it on a message board?

That's your decision and, based on the described experience, understandable.

However, it's a jump in logic to this:

It's a shoddy product

Even well designed products have unit or batch defects. You just came up on the short end of the odds. But really it's the same math you get on a roulette wheel. Sure, the odds of 00 coming up are small, but nothing prevents it coming up at any one time, multiple times in a row.

Even with your multiple unit experience and the other experiences posted over time here, I think the various NOOK generations are a far cry from a "shoddy product." The sample size here is just too small and skewed to the bad experiences. Very few people post saying they've had a NOOK for years with no problem.

Good luck with your Kindle, sorry to hear you've soured on what others find to be a great product.

Well I'll do it then. I have the NE1 3g getting closer to 3 years no cracks, no real problems at all other than the short battery life.

I, too, have had "lemon's" with electronics. Even those that are considered very reliable. My first N1E was DOA. It would not power up. I took it to the store where the B&N reps could not get it to work so they replaced it on the spot with a new one. I still have it and still use it daily. It's been over 2 years and I hope it never dies! I love my N1E.

I bought an iPad 2 a few months ago, had it for about a month when it suddenly went crazy. Possessed! I turned it on one day to use it and the thing just took off on it's own. Never seen anything like it. It was typing emails, opening and closing apps, playing the apps, changing my settings etc.....I had no control over it at all. Couldn't even shut it down. I put it back in it's box and took it to the closest apple store. While I was talking to the guy at the genius bar, you could hear the ipad typing away by itself in the box. He took it out and watched it for a few minutes. Said he never saw anything like it. All the genius folks kept coming up to look at it. They determined it to be defective (heck, even I could have told them that and I'm not even a genius!) and replaced it on the spot with a new one. At least I can't complain about the customer service! Knock on wood, I've had no problems with the replacement.

Even though I had problems with the initial units I purchased from B&N and Apple, I would continue to buy their products based on the customer service I received at both stores. Neither one gave me a hard time. They determined them to be defective and replaced them with new units. Of course they were both still under warranty, but sometimes bad things happen to good products, but it doesn't mean the product itself is shoddy as a whole. I can understand the frustration of someone who has had the bad luck of getting 3 defective products in a row,but I feel the nook is as solid a product as any other major ereader on the market.

KingSausage: I'm sad about the many books I purchased but haven't yet read.

byter67: Well, if you have a PC you can always download and install the free Nook for PC and read whatever B&N books you have already purchased on your computer. Ditto for an Android device.

Sorry you have had bad luck with your devices. I have two Nooks going on 8 months and no problems whatsoever. I suspect mine is the more normal experience.

The last time I heard anything, one could load the Nook app directly onto the Kindle Fire. If that hasn't changed and if he should decide to buy a Fire instead of a regular Kindle, he could easily read his books that way.

As to why Kindles seem to be mentioned more than other devices when a poster's talking about jumping ship, my guess is that that's due to the fact that the Kindle has the highest profile of the other devices and is the one that they've heard about.

As to why Kindles seem to be mentioned more than other devices when a poster's talking about jumping ship, my guess is that that's due to the fact that the Kindle has the highest profile of the other devices and is the one that they've heard about.

Which is why it would behoove most of the people who make the nook-sucks-I'm-buying-a-kindle posts to do a little research. Regardless of the reason, buying impulsively and/or in anger is never a good idea.

keriflur: Which is why it would behoove most of the people who make the nook-sucks-I'm-buying-a-kindle posts to do a little research. Regardless of the reason, buying impulsively and/or in anger is never a good idea.

I agree - especially if one is expecting the competition to never have any problems. I think the Kindles are decent enough products (even the Fire), but I don't think they're immune to problems.